


The Vampires

by ChrysCare, Snowfire (Snowdream)



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Halloween Bingo 2019, M/M, Sparkeaters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-11-24 02:03:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20899841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChrysCare/pseuds/ChrysCare, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snowdream/pseuds/Snowfire
Summary: Halloween Bingo Prompts from the PJ community on Dreamwidth.





	1. The Vampire

Cybertron doesn’t have vampires. Everyone drinks Energon. What they have is far worse. They have true monsters. Ones that will take your very soul out of existence. They are known as the sparkeaters. But those aren’t the worst of them. The worst are the sparked sparkeaters. Mechs who are created from a sparkeater and an abnormally high energy spark. Those are the true monsters, they hide as mechs, look like a mech, they never change in the dark orns. Many don’t know they are one until their intended deactivates in the bonding.   
This is the tale of at least two of those such creatures. 

“Prowler, come on, we are going to be late for the party,” Jazz leans against the door of the tactician’s office. The silver and black mech has talked non-stop about this party since the end of the war and it was planned. Cybertron had a similar holiday, Unicron Orn. “All the good seats are gonna be taken.”

“Jazz, I am not going to wear a ridiculous costume for a holiday that celebrates the dead, demons and undead. There’s more important post-war—“

“Prowl, the war is over, every mech agrees to it, data-work can wait,” Prowl glances up at the voice of the Prime. The silver and black saboteur sits up from the floor obviously crashing there when the door opened. He frowns when he sees what the Prime is dressed as. In a shimmering thin metallic deep blue cape with a pointed collar, the Prime looks regal even though he’s obviously dressed as a human version of a sparkeater. The white mech beside the Prime, the former Decepticon assassin, has “puncture wounds” in his main Energon line and Energon seems to run down the white armor. 

Unicron orn was the orn that every sparkling learned about and learned to fear sparkeaters and their rare creations, sparktakers. Creators dressed up in scary armor and tormented sparklings all orn. 

Logic chips follow that thread of reasoning and gives him the result of the Prime is a sparkeater. Optimus never attacked mechs, never changed in any dark orns. His battle computer reminds him sparktakers never change. But still Optimus never took anyone to berth as is required to feed for a sparktaker in a spark merge. 

“Come on Prowler, I got the perfect outfit for ya,” Jazz smiles leaning over his desk, smirk plastered on those grey faceplates. Prowl realizes Jazz doesn’t have a costume on yet. Jazz was waiting form him to dress up. Prowl sighs before setting down his data-pad. Jazz cheers and latches onto his arm to pull him along

“Jazz and Snow spent days working on it,” Optimus says as the Prime and former Decpeticon follow them to Jazz’s quarters. Prowl glances back at the white mech to see him holding the Prime’s servo. Jazz pulls Prowl into the quarters and he’s met with an elaborate fur coated set of armor. Well the fur is Cyberwolf like not organic. 

“Wow,” escapes Prowl’s mouth at the level of detail put into it. 

“I know right,” Jazz jumps to the armor, servos up to it but not really touching it. “I wanted ya to be a cyberwolf but Snow thought of the wolfmech and made the armor. I helped put the fur plates on and painted it.”

Prowl glances back to the former Decepticon to see a small smile, not the smirk he normally wears. Looking to the armor, Prowl notices the fur plates are welded to the armor and the plates are less than a digits width. The majority of the time must have been to place them. Hesitantly touching the white and black plates, they clink together and he can see Jazz’s hesitation in touching them. Prowl steps around the armor to see a tail with the same fur plates. Where his doorwings are is a golden cape that reaches the floor. 

“Snow thought of moonlight trailing you, the cape doesn’t interfere with your sensors either,” Jazz says pulling the cape off of the armor and he notices that it magnetizes to the bottom of his sensory panels. How does the former Decepticon know how sensory panels work? He looks at the white mech, frowning a bit. The mech was a seeker, where are his wings. 

Prowl glances at the Prime’s cape to see just as much detail in it as his costume. 

“Snow’s favorite holiday is Halloween,” Optimus says, glancing at the white mech. Jazz walks into the room, Prowl didn’t even realize Jazz left. The saboteur has a light blue cape much like the Prime’s but he can see the level of craftsmanship in it isn’t near that of the Prime’s cape. Prowl frowns at Jazz’s fake fangs glinting in the light. 

“Snowfire taught me how to make my own cape,” Jazz smiles. The saboteur helps Prowl into the costume, the tactician looks surprised at the former Decepticon as the armor fits right over his normal. Looking down at the armor, he, for a moment, believes he’s a wolfmech.

“You have retractable claws,” Snowfire takes his servo to show him. Prowl frowns, Energon running cold, spark stilling, sensors tingling up his back strut at the touch of the other’s white servos. Red optics meeting his ice blue ones, he can tell the other feels it too. 

The touch of a sparkeater’s creation. The touch of death. 

Snowfire’s just like him.


	2. The Black Cat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1 The Vampire is rewritten. you can find the old version posted as well.

It is said that monsters know one another. Sparkeater creations, sparktakers, have the ability to know by touch if a mech is a sparkeater or sparktaker. Sparkeater’s touch is a draining cold chill down the back strut. Sparktaker’s though is an Energon freezing, spark stopping, veil of dread touch as if you’ve deactivated for a moment and your processor hasn’t caught up yet. 

When two sparktakers meet, one normally doesn’t survive. Sparktakers, according to what little information has been gathered on the rare mechs, are extremely territorial. They do not share their feeding grounds. 

Prowl and Snowfire stare at one another for a pulse, if their sparks were still pulsing at the touch. Prowl frowns when the former Decpeticon retreats back to the Prime’s side. 

It’s rare to meet another sparktaker on Earth. He knows of one other, a Decepticon, who he is on speaking terms with. Will this new sparktaker get rid of, challenge them and use the mechs on Earth to feed off of? A smart sparktaker leaves his victims online but missing a few memories. Has Snowfire fed from mechs yet? 

Prowl follows the Prime and former Decepticon down the hall to the party. The Prime takes the mech’s white servo as they near the rec room. 

“Snowfire and Jazz planned thirty one quartex’s of Halloween,” Optimus says as they enter the rec room which is decorated with webs, “decayed-rusted” mech parts, flickering spark casings and Energon cauldrons that smell of high grade. 

“Who made this high grade?” a mech asks, holding up the bright pink, almost fluorescent cube.

“I did, special seeker grade recipe,” Starscream bows dramatically on the other side of the room and drips a few drops from his cube as well as nearly pulling Shockwave down to the floor in his graceful overcharged bow. Starscream falls to the floor giggling. “A magician neber rebeals his secrepts.”

Shockwave looks down at the seeker, optic dimming for a moment until Starscream falls completely flat on the ground. 

“Is he. . .” Optimus frowns toward the tri-colored seeker. 

“Fine?” Snowfire asks grabbing a cube of high grade. “Absolutely, he’s just overcharged for a while.”

Optimus reaches for a cube but Snowfire grabs it out of his servo. The white mech shakes a digit to the Prime and shaking his helm. The previous cube nowhere to be found.

“None of this for you, I have your high grade made over there,” Snowfire points towards the table where Bumblebee and Barricade sit, well cuddled together. “Seekers burn hot.”

Snowfire smirks, cube gone within nanoseconds. Optimus chuckles, “of course they do.”

Prowl frowns as Snowfire pulls the Prime away. He had to make sure the Prime wasn’t in danger. Who knows what the assassin sparktaker has in mind. His frown deepens as he realizes the assassin’s victims always had hardened spark cores. Sparktakers leave nothing behind unlike sparkeaters who leave a shredded spark. 

Jazz pulls Prowl to a booth, grabbing a few mild high grade cubes. The mechs around them are talking adamantly about something, he parts his attention from watching Snowfire climb onto the Prime’s lap and kiss up to his lipplates and Optimus seemingly enjoying it. 

“. . . Prime is taking this post war mingling to extreme. First he invites the whole Decepticon army on base then volunteers housing one of the most lethal ones in his quarters. Who knows what that Decepticon is doing to him. He’s never even been with an Autobot, yet here he’s with a Decepticon.”

“I hear they have sparkeaters in their army,” another mech says. 

Snowfire is much worse than a sparkeater. The Prime being uneducated in interfacing and such might not even realize that Snowfire is a sparktaker. He needs to warn the Prime. 

“Ah’m begginnin’ ta feel left out, Prowler, Ya’ll over there starin’ at the Prime’s makin’ me jealous,” he turns his attention to the saboteur to see a pout. 

“Black cat! Black cat, crossed our path!” one of the Autobots shriek before a group of overcharged giggles join a deep growl from Ravage who walks into the room. Soundwave soon follows afterward with a midnight blue mech beside him. Silver optics scan the room before focusing on the Prime’s booth. Soundwavae nods before splitting off from the mech to get Energon. 

“Sire,” Prowl hears Snowfire say and hops off the Prime’s lap to hug the midnight blue mech. Normally the sire is the sparkeater, but Soundwave has acted the way of a sparkeater, going orns without Energon when being held prisoner. 

“I am going to go meet that mech,” Prowl says to Jazz before standing and starting to walk over there. 

“Firestreak? Snowfire’s sire?” Jazz hops out of the booth to join Prowl on his journey. “Optimus found him in a neutral camp. He’ came back here when he learned Sounders was here.”

“Soundwave is Snowfire’s carrier.”

“Yeah, mech, Sounder’s said he bonded to tha mech young, before the war and all,” Jazz’s frown isn’t missed when Prowl glances to him. 

A sparkeater bonded to a mech. Blaster said Host sparks burn bright for symbionts. 

Prowl steps up to the mech, Firestreak glances over to him. 

“I see Snowfire’s skill is becoming useful,” the mech laughs and grabs Snowfire in a helm lock before letting him go slightly. 

Sparkeaters, the perfect liars, able to be regular mechs while holding deep dangerous secrets. 

“Let’s get this party started!” Starscream yells as he stands on the table. Shockwave shakes his helm while covering his optic. Soundwave returns to the group, handing high grade to Firestreak. Prowl glances to Soudnwave’s mid-grade.

“I am Prowl, sec—“ Prowl starts, realizing that he’s no longer technically second in command of the Autobots anymore. 

“Prowl is second in command to the Prime,” Optimus smiles a little.

“Pleasure to meet you, Prowl,” Firestreak takes his white servo. Prowl’s spark slows as a chill runs along his back strut warning him of danger. Sparkeater. For a pulse he had hoped this mech wasn’t really Snowfire’s sire but a replacement. His sire ripped out his carrier’s spark when his carrier decided to leave with the two sparklings. “Soundwave has told me much of your work and Optimus is lucky to have you.”

Prowl glances to the Prime, the mech uses no title for the Prime. That is only reserved for family or close friends. Even then in public places only for family. Is Snowfire and the Prime planning on bonding? Does the Prime know it will deactivate him?

:Does the Prime know he will never bond to you?: Prowl asks Snowfire as Firestreak steps over to where Bumblebee sits. 

“How’s my favorite grandcreation?” Firestreak asks, Bumblebee hugs the midnight blue mech. 

“Don’t let the symbionts hear that or the others,” Snowfire laughs. :Mechs can’t bond to the same mech twice.” 

Prowl stares at the white mech. :How can you be bonded? You could have deactivated the Prime!:

Optimus chuckles to something the sparkeater says. Does the Prime know what he’s bonded to? What does that make Bumblebee? The scout never acted like any monster. He never felt any sparkeater or sparktaker in the scout. He can never bond to Jazz because of this. He could always claim it was too risky during the war. The war is over, Jazz will want to bond. 

:Optimus is the thirteenth Prime,: Snowfire says. Prowl frowns, there has only been four Prime’s before Optimus claimed the matrix.

:Barricade, what is Bumblebee?: he asks the other Praxian. Four red optics glance over to him, they dim a bit. 

:I’m calling them sparkstealers,: the black and purple Praxian says. :I have never needed to feed since bonding to him. It’s like he stole my spark right out of my chamber.:

Prowl frowns, things keep getting worse.


	3. The Screams

Sparktakers have no known enemies making them the worst monster out there for regular mechs. They have the ability to form a stable sparkeater from their victim. It is rare and almost always done on purpose. Give normal mechs a sliver of hope their loved one will return. 

Sparkstealers could very well be a sparktakers enemy. Nature has a habit of creating balance. Just like sparkeaters eventually had sparkhunters emerge. 

Prowl watches Barricade from across the room. The mech doesn’t act any different, calmer perhaps. Could a sparkstealer be just a normal mech who is immune to their kind? Or are mechs like Bumblebee some sort of cure for sparktakers. What if Jazz was one and he was hesitating for no reason. How would someone even find out? At bonding and end up deactivating Jazz?

“Would ya rather go sit with Barricade?” Jazz asks blue visor dimming a little. He looks to the saboteur with a frown. 

“No, it’s just . . . the war is over, we can be brothers again,” Prowl turns to Jazz. He hasn’t been around the darker Praxian since Cybertron, since Praxus fell. If Snowfire and Barricade are both sparktakers and are apparently friendly, how many other sparktakers are in the Decepticons? He’s the only one in the Autobots. He’s sure of it.”

“What’s on ya processor?” Jazz asks, he jumps when the saboteur is right in front of him. The saboteur is right in front of him. The saboteur cups his faceplates, leaning in a bit. 

“Jazz, there’s something I need to tell you—“

A scream comes from out in the hall before more screams come and a mech, one of the neutrals runs into the rec room. 

“You guys did an awesome job at decorating the rest of the base,” Silvervade says. “That Bluestreak prop is so lifelike.”

Prowl glances around the room for Bluestreak but doesn’t see the younger Praxian. The younger mech wouldn’t miss one of Jazz’s parties. He sees Snowfire frown and get up. The Prime follows soon after to follow the neutral. He and Jazz follow the Prime. 

They come up to the hallway from the quarters to see the soft grey mech slouched against the wall. Optics and biolights are offline.

“I didn’t put that there,” Snowfire frowns glancing to Jazz who shakes his helm. Prowl kneels in front of the Praxian, a small flicker of a field brushes against his. Concern fills his spark as he unlatches the chestplates. A prop can’t be this detailed. He parts the chestplates to reveal an empty spark chamber. The only thing left is a small wisp of blue energy. He’s shoved aside and Snowfire has his servos in the mech’s spark chamber. 

“A sparktaker,” Snowfire growls quietly, Prowl notices a shift among the mechs gathered. Snowfire’s frame crackles, blue biolights shimmering before electricity dances over the mech’s frame. The blue electricity arcs from the former Decepticon’s digits to Bluestreak’s spark chamber. The blue wisp flickers before surging with energy and the spark reforms. 

Bluestreak’s scream rings out as his frame onlines and the youngling falls into stasis. The blue spark pulses irregularly, a sparkeater’s spark. Prowl goes to grab Snowfire’s arm but Snowfire steadies the spark. Ratchet appears between Prowl and Snowfire and checks over the youngling.

“He should not turn into the sparkeater,” Snowfire looks at the medic. Ratchet flinches away and Snowfire stands and walks to a group of Decepticons. They all look solemn, Shockwave’s optic flicks towards Prowl, Ratchet and Bluestreak. Prowl stands to walk to the group but the mech’s disappear in the crowd. 

Whispers begin to start about sparkeaters and mass murder.

“What’s a sparktaker?” Jazz asks glancing to Prowl. Prowl frowns where he sits on the ground. This is a conversation he never wanted to have with Jazz. 

“Everyone in the med-bay now,” Ratchet yells gathering Bluestreak’s frame up. Prowl glances around to see Snowfire gone and everyone follows the medic. He steps up beside the Prime.

“Where did Snowfire go?” Prowl frowns up at the Prime. 

“To retrieve something from our quarters,” the Prime says, a deep frown marring the Prime’s faceplates. Did Optimus know of sparkeaters and sparktakers or is he just now learning of it? The group of twenty mechs file into the medical bay, Ratchet hooks Bluestreak up to an Energon drip and goes to close the med-bay doors. Snowfire walks in holding something in his arms, well cradling it to his chestplates. Ratchet locks the door before turning to Snowfire. 

“You’re going to tell me—where did you get that sparkling?” Ratchet looks down, everyone gasps as the something shifts in Snowfire’s arms. Bright blue optics flick around to the mechs crowded in the med-bay, small silver servos clench onto Snowfire’s chest armor. The blanket falls off the small red helm. 

“He’s mine,” Snowfire says holding the sparkling closer. Everyone can tell the sparkling isn’t very old. Prowl guesses no more than five orns. 

“You left a sparkling in your quarters alone,” Prowl frowns stepping closer. 

“Anchyr and Aerodyne were watching him, they hate parties,” Snowfire glares at the Praxian. 

“How old is he?” Ratchet asks, the sparkling looks from Prowl to Ratchet. 

“Three orns,” Snowfire says pulling the blanket over the sparkling’s helm. 

“Who’s the sire?” Ratchet asks running a preliminary scan over the sparkling. The war ended two human months ago, meaning Snowfire was sparked long before that. Also meaning Optimus knew about the sparkling for two orns and never informed him. 

“I am,” Optimus rests his servos on Snowfire’s shoulders. Ratchet’s optics flicker a bit. Prowl frowns, Bumblebee was estimated to be twelve vorns when he arrived in the Autobot army. The scout had said he just recently upgraded. That had been twenty vorns ago. Prowl glances to Optimus as his logic center starts overworking on thirty two vorns worth of data.

One thing is certain Optimus has been in an intimate relationship with a deadly enemy for most of the war and yet they have peace with Autobots claiming victory. 

“It’s noble of you to take responsibility Pri—“

“Optimus is the sire,” Snowfire says as the sparkling reaches for the Prime. Snowfire hands the sparkling over to the Prime, Optimus cradles the small CYbertronian to his chestplates. Ratchet’s scan of the sparkling’s coding comes back to the match the Prime’s and the former Decepticon. 

“I have too many questions to ask,” Ratchet says. “But I need to know what you did to Bluestreak.”

“I reignited his spark, he had residual spark energy left,” Snowfire says. The gathered mechs find some place to sit until Ratchet tells them what’s going on. “It’s called the Wisp of Hope, left by a sparktaker’s feeding. The sparktaker hopes a medic comes by to reignite the sliver of spark before it fades in hope that a sparkeater is created. Sparktakers normally do it to cause a distraction from their feeding.”

“So instead of letting Bluestreak go to the Well, you brought him back to be a sparkeater,” Ratchet frowns, Prowl steps over to the youngling’s helm to caress it. He doesn’t feel anything of a sparkeater’s aura on the mech. 

“No, I stabilized his spark, an irregular spark would cause him to become a sparkeater on the next dark orn,” Snowfire frowns, crossing his arms. 

“What are sparktakers?” Jazz asks, stepping up to the Prime, Snowfire and Ratchet. Snowfire’s optics land on Prowl before looking at Jazz. 

“Sparktakers are creations of sparkeaters and an abnormally bright and high energy spark,” Snowfire says. “When it’s not a dark orn a spark eater is a normal mech, they are drawn to the brightest sparks. If they meet on the light orns, they bond to the bight sparks and eventually, most of the time the sparkeaters are tamed. If they meet on a dark orn the bright spark is deactivated and the whole cycle repeats.

“Sparktakers are not driven to feed maniacally like sparkeaters, they’re more subtle in picking and a smart one doesn’t deactivate their prey. They can only merge for three pulses with a normal mech or six pulses with a bright spark without deactivating.”

“How do you know so much about them?” Ratchet asks. “Even medics don’t know that much.”

“I studied them,” Snowfire frowns crossing his arms. 

“How do you tell if a a mech is a sparktaker?” Jazz asks, Prowl stiffens beside Bluestreak. 

“A sparktaker can tell the difference between a normal mech, sparkeater and sparktaker,” Snowfire says frowning at the black and white Praxian. “Sparkhunters can see the difference.”


End file.
